Process of producing an adhesive substance of a light color from seaweeds.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AXEL KREFTING, OF CHRISTIANIA, NORWAY, ASSIGNOR TO NORSK TANGSYNDIKAT,

OF CHRISTIANIA, NORWAY.

PROCESS OF PRODUCING AN ADHESIVE SUBSTANCE OF A. LIGHT COLOR FROM SEA-Patented June 9, 1914.

WEEDS.

1 99,382. 7 Specification of Letters Patent.

No Drawing. Application filed February 21, 1914. Serial No. 920,303.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that L'AXEL Knnrrmo, a subject ofthe King of Norway, residing at Ghristiania, Norway, have inventedcertain new and usefullmprovements in a Process of Producing an AdhesiveSubstance of a- Light Color from seaweeds; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

This invention relates to the utilization of sea Weeds and has for itsobject a process of producing from sea weeds an adhesive substance of alight color.

In the manufacture of various adhesive substances containing algous acidfrom sea weeds one has hitherto employed the leaves of the weeds andmore especially of the Laminarz'a de'gitata and saccharine, which areeasily dissolved in a warm soda solution, of which the glutinous productcontaining algous acid is produced.

The leaves of Laminar-ta cloustomi are for various reasons and alsobecause of their being diflicult to preserve, not much suited for theproduction of adhesives. The leaves of the sea weed contain however acomparatively large amount of coloring matter which has always been agreat disadvantage in the finished product because the fibrous productsbecome a more or less dark color even after the employment ofconsiderable quantities of bleaching means. The quantity of bleachingagents to be employed are however also limited by the fact that theypartially destroy the sea weeds so that the value of the product may bereduced, when there is employed too much of them. If a colorless productis to be produced the plant fibers must therefore be completely removedby suitable means, and this to a high degree will effect an increase inthe manufacturing cost. The applicant has now made a great number ofexperiments with the object of finding a process by means of which alight colored substance containing algous acid could be produced fromsea weeds without necessitating the employment of too large quantitiesof bleaching agents.

According to this invention the problem has been solved in the mannerthat instead of the leaves of the sea weeds, the stalks of Laminma'aclousto'ni and other sea weeds with thick stalks are employed as,a rawmaterial in the manufacture of the said adhesive substances. Thesestalks become up to 3 cm. in cross section and of a length of more thanone meter. Very large uantities of these stalks are thrown up on t eshores by the storms especially during the autumn and have hitherto beenutilized only by burning to produce kelp or as a manure. The outer skin(epidermis) is however of a strong brown color and a great number ofexperiments have been made with the object of bleaching this skin or ofloosening it from the inner light mass by means of chemicals. Theseexperiments have not succeeded. By further experiments it has been foundhowever that the skin of the stalks are comparatively easy to remove bymeans of various mechanical means such as grinding, cutting or slittingwhen the stalks are treated in a fresh (undried) condition and accordingto this invention the stalks are therefore first subjected to atreatment of this kind.

When the dark skin has been removed in this manner the stalks are cut upinto smaller pieces, whereupon a leaching with warm water is carriedout. When such organic substances and inorganic salts as are soluble inwater have been removed by means of this treatment the remainingundissolved seaweed mass is subjected to a bleaching process, whereuponit is treated with chemical agents so as to make the insoluble algoussalts soluble in water.

I claim.

1. In the process of producing an adhesive substance of a light colorfrom sea weeds the improvement which consists in using as a raw materialthe stalks of the sea weeds and removing by mechanical means the outerdark-colored skin of the stalks before their being further treated toobtain the adhesive substance.

2. The process of producing an adhesive substance from sea weeds whichconsists in using as an initial material the stalks of the sea weedsremoving from these stalks by mechanical means such as grinding,cutting, my invention, I have signeti my name in shitting or theh likethe outer dalrk-colored presence of two subscribing witnesses, s incutting t e stal s into sma er pieces, leaching them with water andthereupon AXEL KREFTING" 5 subjecting them to a treatment with chemiWitnesses:

cals to efl'ect the dissolution of the same. M. E. GUTToRMsBN, Intestimony that I claim the foregoing as RUTH LINDsTRfim

